Dec. 29, 2000 -
A federal judge in Denver on Thursday cleared any legal obstacles to Timothy McVeigh's execution for the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch questioned McVeigh, who is in federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., via closed-circuit television for about 30 minutes and then ac cepted his wish to forgo any further appeals.

Matsch, who presided over McVeigh's 1997 trial in Denver, said he thought McVeigh's decision "has been made knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently, and I believe you to be competent to make this decision."

Earlier, when asked whether he had been pressured into seeking exe cution, McVeigh replied, "Quite the opposite: The only pressure I have felt is from those that were opposed to me making this decision."

If McVeigh fails to file an appeal by Jan. 11, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on Jan. 12 has 60 days to set a date for his execution. The execution must be held within 120 to 180 days from then, or between May 12 and July 11.

An Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War, McVeigh was convicted of using a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy and first-degree murder for the deaths of eight federal agents killed when a bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Building the morning of April 19, 1995.

On Thursday, McVeigh, 32, who is in solitary confinement on federal death row, appeared on three large screens in Matsch's courtroom. Seated at a table in a blue cinderblock room, he wore a light orange polyester prison uniform with a white, long-sleeved T-shirt underneath. Next to him was one of his attorneys, Nathan Chambers of Denver.

McVeigh at first appeared nonchalant, leaning back in his chair. But as soon Matsch addressed him, he sat forward and leaned his forearms on the table in front of him.

As Matsch read from a statement by McVeigh that he was forgoing further appeals, McVeigh followed along with his own copy, looking up at the camera several times. McVeigh appeared healthy and fit, acting focused and intense. Chambers, seated to McVeigh's right, said little and frequently shuffled through papers.

McVeigh said his living conditions were not a factor in seeking an execution date. He said he lived in an 8-by-10-foot cell, had a small television, and had a shower and recreation three times a week. He said prison conditions didn't influenced his decision and he hadn't been coerced by prison officials. McVeigh missed a Dec. 12 deadline for yet another appeal. Matsch told him he could extend that deadline for 30 days, to Jan. 11.

"Now, let me make this very clear in the plainest language that if you do not file with this court a request for an extension of time ... then a date will be set to put you to death by lethal injection," he said. "Do you understand?" McVeigh said he did but didn't foresee changing his decision. "So, to put it plainly, you know you're making a decision here which may be the final decision with regard to your future,"
Matsch said.

"I understand," McVeigh replied.

McVeigh did keep open his right to apply for executive clemency, by which the president could postpone his execution or reduce his sentence to something less than death.

Matsch said McVeigh probably understood executive clemency better than he did but cautioned McVeigh that there could be no guarantee which president, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, would hear his request, or who would serve as attorney general at the time of his request.

McVeigh has not explained why he has pre-empted his appeals in favor of an earlier execution date. His father, William McVeigh, reached at his home in Pendleton, N.Y., told The Buffalo News that it's his son's decision.

"This is Tim's wish," he said. "It's up to him. We spoke to him on Christmas Eve, and we spoke to him before that on what he was going to do. He's explained it to us. I guess his feeling is, he knows he's going to die. ... It might as well be sooner than later." Dennis Hartley, McVeigh's attorney in the courtroom, said he doesn't understand it.

"I don't try to dissuade him," he said after the hearing. "I just tell him what the points (grounds for appeal) are. But it's my prediction he won't appeal. I also don't think he's made up his mind about executive clemency. I think it's 50-50 if he'll ask for it." Hartley said he intends to represent McVeigh through the clemency hearing, regardless of whether he's appointed. Chambers, too, said he would offer McVeigh help, noting they had a good rapport. He said he'd stay in close touch with him in the days leading up to Jan. 11. "I don't think anybody should face the executioner alone, and I don't intend to abandon Mr. McVeigh," Chambers said.

Ralph Duke of Colorado Springs, whose daughter, Claudette Meek, 43, of Widefield, died in the bombing, was in the courtroom for the hearing.

"I don't know why he wants it (execution), but if that's what he wants ...," said Duke, who has attended nearly all the hearings in the case. Asked what he wanted for McVeigh, he just stared blankly and shrugged. "I had hoped he would tell us why he did it, tell us what he knows," he said. "But he won't tell us nothing. He never will. It's too late now for an apology."

Prosecutors say McVeigh was motivated by anger over the government's raid on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993.

Paul Heath of Oklahoma City, a survivor of the blast, said McVeigh appeared "premeditated, calculating and practiced" during Thursday's hearing.

"This is a man who declared war on the Constitution of the United States," said an angry Heath. "He wanted to murder the Constitution of the United States. He is arrogantly trying to mock the Constitution. He knows the federal government hasn't put anyone to death since 1963."

Heath said he believes that McVeigh wants to be a martyr. In a letter to Matsch, asking him to refuse McVeigh's request, Heath asked the judge to look at his motive.

"Make no mistake about this prisoner's motive in making his request, it is to have that government, which he remains at war with, rush and kill him. His death wish request will prove him (in his own mind) to be a famous martyr," Heath said.